


Breathe

by RadarsTeddyBear



Series: Ducktober 2018 [19]
Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Fictober, Gen, Panic Attack, prompt: panic attack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-21
Updated: 2018-10-21
Packaged: 2019-08-05 03:52:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16360223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RadarsTeddyBear/pseuds/RadarsTeddyBear
Summary: Lena has a panic attack and Donald helps her through it.





	Breathe

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: ["Panic Attack"](http://radarsteddybear.tumblr.com/post/169006603389/whumpreads-i-dont-draw-but-ive-been-thinking).

Lena curled up in the corner of the room, pressing her back against the wall.  Her heart was pounding, her hands were shaking and clammy, and she couldn’t breathe.  Lena had been through a lot in her life, but this was definitely up there among the worst.  Is this what dying felt like? Was _she_ dying?

Lena rested the back of her head against the wall.  Tears began to leak out of her eyes. She didn’t _want_ to die.  She had a _family_ now.  She was just starting to get used to having a good, loving family, and the universe wanted to take her away from it.  A sob escaped from her throat. It just wasn’t _fair._

“Lena?”  Her door suddenly creaked open.

Lena hastily wiped her eyes as Donald stepped into the room.

“Y-yeah?” she said.  

Donald frowned.  “Are you ok?”

“Yeah, of course I am,” Lena said, gasping, but immediately realized that nobody would ever believe that.  She hung her head. “No.”

Donald put a hand on her shoulder.  “What’s wrong?”

Lena was quiet a moment.  “I think I’m dying.”

“What makes you say that?”

“I can’t b-breathe, and my heart f-feels like it’s trying to r-run away, it’s beating so h-hard,” Lena said.  

Donald felt her forehead, and then her wrist, and nodded thoughtfully.  “It looks a lot more like you’re having a panic attack than dying,” he said.  

“H-how to I m-make it stop?” she asked, voice cracking.

“You just have to breathe.  Like this.” Donald breathed in slowly, held his breath for a second, and then breathed out slowly.  “Breathe with me.”

Lena paused a moment to parse what he said before trying to match his breathing, but her lungs just wouldn’t let her.  “I can’t!”

“It’s ok.  Keep trying,” Donald said.  He started moving his hands up and down with the rhythm of his breathing, and that seemed to help.  It took a few more tries until she finally got it, and soon after she started feeling better.

Donald stayed with Lena her hands stopped shaking and she could breathe without choking.

“Feeling better?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she said, wiping her sweaty palms on her shirt.

“Want to join me downstairs?  I think the kids are watching some _Ottoman Empire_ , but I’m sure they’ll do something a little more exciting if you ask.”

Lena shook her head.  “No thanks. I-I think I want to be alone for a little while.”

Donald nodded.  “Ok.” He stood.  “You know where to find me.”  He left, softly closing the door behind him.

Lena hugged her knees and kept breathing.

**Author's Note:**

> Please review!


End file.
